No Choice (Eruri)

Curiosity

A slight movement at his side snapped him out of his dream before Erwin opened his eyes and stared motionless into the darkness for a moment.

He could hear Levi's soft breathing and feel each of his quiet breaths. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he looked down at himself, where he now recognized the outline of Levi, seemingly still fast asleep beside him.

His head rested on his chest, so for a moment, Erwin hardly dared to breathe himself.

This had to be a dream. In reality, Levi had indeed left long ago. Especially after he had had to listen to all that talk Erwin had been giving off, which he, unfortunately, remembered all too well.

Nevertheless, Levi had stayed and laid in his arms. A situation that Erwin would not have believed in the least this morning. Probably the alcohol had not been entirely innocent in his case either, and Erwin was now afraid that Levi would jump up as soon as he even stirred.

So he lay still and tried for a while to fall back asleep. But the hangover that was already starting kept him from doing so.

He wondered what time it was.

He turned his head and tried to catch a glimpse of the small clock on the nightstand, but he could not read the dial in the darkness and from that angle.

And when his bladder also began to squeeze, he made a decision and, with a heavy heart, pushed Levi a little away from him.

As feared, he seemed to wake up and moved away from Erwin, turning his back to him and muttering something unintelligible under his breath.

Erwin whispered a soft apology before pushing himself out of bed and disappearing into the bathroom without looking back again.

He was shaking slightly when he finally propped himself up on the sink after a short relief. Apparently, he really had overdone something. And the bloodshot eyes staring back at him from the mirror in the pale face confirmed his assumption.

He turned on the water and wet his face with the cold wetness before letting it run down his dust-dry throat.

Again he paused and stared at his reflection.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked quietly as he realized how he hesitated to return. He fully expected Levi to be gone if he went back to the bedroom now, and he didn't know why that thought made him so nervous.

He also had no clue why this man was bothering him so much in the first place. He had used the last two days to get some distance. Initially, he had intended to take at least two of his people with him, but he simply couldn't stand to be around anyone else. Instead, he had gone off on his own for conversations and arrangements that he could have left to others. One reason was the concerns he had explained to Levi just a few hours ago. But there had been another reason as well. And that was Levi himself.

He had returned to town early in the evening the day before the ball. But instead of going quietly to his quarters as he had done the night before, he had gone underground.

He did not know until now what he had actually been looking for. Distraction? An outlet? Whatever it may be, he had been sure not to run into anyone down there who would recognize him as he moved through the underground redlight district. In the end, it had been in vain anyway because he hadn't found what he was looking for.

He had never been a man to buy another person's affection, and he hadn't started that night either.

He didn't even remember where he had gotten the idea that this would have been the solution to the problem in the first place. But he had finally wanted to know. Finally wanted to know if other men had such an attraction to him as Levi did.